


Our Mutually Beneficial Partnership

by Andaxay



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Basically just some fun with these two, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Kind of heist, Light-Hearted, No CoV, Not BL3 Canon Compliant, Rhys is CEO of Atlas, Set around 18 months after Tales, Some aspects are there e.g. Katagawa and Maliwan, Takes place after Tales but not BL3 compliant, Tales Canon Compliant, Tropes everywhere probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29882883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andaxay/pseuds/Andaxay
Summary: When Rhys' beloved company comes under potential threat from Maliwan, he asks good friend and experienced con artist Fiona to help him infiltrate the enemy to find answers. She helps him, he helps her. Now they must work together to uncover the truth in a rather... different manner than they're accustomed to.
Relationships: Fiona/Rhys (Borderlands)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 11





	Our Mutually Beneficial Partnership

**Author's Note:**

> I've been burning to write something that's just sheer fun with these two. Their dynamic is my favourite. Enjoy!

"Rhys! Hey. Been a few weeks."

"Fiona! Fiii- _ohhhh-_ na. There she is. My favourite con- ... hunter."

"... Oh, god. He wants something."

"What?! N _oooo_. No-no-no. Why would you think that? Love the new hat, by the way, really complements your... eyebrows."

"I _just_ answered the ECHO call and you're already trying to butter me up so much, I'm about to offer you some bread to go with it."

"Yeesh, can't a guy just call his friend for a nice chat these days?"

"'A guy' can, however, the guy I'm talking to right now, who, by the way, is a CEO with an _entire company_ at his disposal,usually only calls when he needs something."

"That's not... completely true. We talk about other stuff, too!"

"Mmm-hmm."

"And anyway, it's not like you aren't compensated, for your, uhh, 'generous donations'. If I give you any more shares you'll practically own the whole place."

"My cunning plan is coming along nicely, then."

"And _anyway_ , you don't call me, either! Would it kill you to call once in a while? 'Hey, Rhys! How's it going? Gortys doing ok over there? No-one trying to swoop in and take everything you have, hahaha? Nope? Good!'"

"... What?"

"Oh, crap. Already said too much-"

"Wait, Rhys, is that Mali-"

"NOTHING, nope, ahaha, just a, uhh, bad dream I had! Nothing to worry about and it definitely isn't something that's worth talking about on-on this particular call."

"... You know, I'd almost worry about you, if I didn't know you so well by now."

"... Uncalled for."

"Ehh, justified."

"But, seriously. Can we catch up? Like, in person?"

"Rhys, I'm not even on the same _planet_ as you right now."

"I'll buy you dinner. And drinks! There's a place I've wanted to try for a while, now. Real, um, quiet. Hardly anyone knows about it."

"That sounds terrible for business."

"What they lack in customers, they make up for in... profit margins, or, uhh, some crap like that."

"Yeah, you lost me."

"Look, just, all expenses paid, you get the pleasure of my company- alright, the snort was _definitely_ uncalled for - and! I'm not saying I have some info that would help you out in your... current line of work, but I'm not _not_ saying that..."

"... You're paying for my ship to Promethea, too? Aww, Rhys, you shouldn't have!"

"Y'know, at this point, I might as well just give you my entire company."

"Nah, you're better at the corporate bullshit thing than I am. Alright, I'm in. Earliest I can get there is next week."

"Great. Let me know when you're due to land and I'll have a taxi pick you up. I'll sort a room, too-"

"I want the executive suite. If you try and pass off the _panic room_ as a 'guest bedroom' again, I'll swipe your whole damn company from under your nose."

"... One executive suite, coming right up."

* * *

"... Alright, Rhys, the _hell_ is going on? The not-being-able-to-talk-over-the-phone thing I get, but I had no idea the taxi was going to bring me to... wherever the hell _this_ is. What's all the secrecy about? This is weird, even for you."

Fiona stood, leaning against the wall of a concrete building that had seen better days. Pink neon lights nearby advertised a small café and she suspected this was the place Rhys had referred to in their call.

She'd been on Promethea for a whole hour and already, he owed her. He owed her _big_.

She folded her arms as Rhys approached, half-apologetic grin on his face. "Nice sunglasses," she chimed, nodding at his face, "perfect for keeping out the ten-thirty PM sun."

"I needed to be inconspicuous," Rhys said quietly as he reached her, scowling.

"And _sunglasses_ were the way to go?" Fiona smirked as she looked him up and down. "It is still so painfully, obviously you."

"Oh, come on, they hide like half my face-"

"Terrible fashion sense-"

"Like someone who grew up on _Pandora_ could lecture me about fashion-"

"-enough hair gel to stand a spoon in-"

"It gets _fluffy_ , ok-"

"-an _inexplicable_ amount of leg-"

"Are you _done_?" Rhys folded his arms and gifted her with one of his trademark pouts.

"For now." Fiona grinned, shark-like. "Can't promise anything later, after I get a few drinks inside me. And I'm _starving_." She turned slightly and eyed the dinky café sceptically. "Nice place. At least the cockroaches will provide extra protein."

"It's quiet," Rhys countered, "which is the main thing. C'mon. It won't seem so bad once you've had a drink, or five."

"I might be able to forgive you, if that executive suite comes with room service."

Fiona eyed the interior unenthusiastically as they went inside. A single fan mounted to the ceiling turned its blades lazily, which did little to shift the stale air. The artificial lighting was too yellow and none of the furniture matched. They were seated by a dumpy, blonde, middle-aged woman wearing a stained apron, who eyed them both suspiciously - in her defence, both were dressed unusually nicely, compared to the usual clientele. Mercifully, she didn't question them and left quickly to start making their food, giving them the space they needed to talk. The place was empty save for the three of them.

"Alright," Fiona said as she plucked a breadstick from a cup on the table and Rhys pocketed his sunglasses, "so, who's threatening you? I assume this is why you tried, failed horribly, to keep everything on the lowdown?"

Rhys picked at the corner of the plastic tablecloth absent-mindedly. "Amazingly, no-one. Not directly, anyway. And... that's the problem." He leaned forward, resting on his forearms as she frowned at him. "You remember a couple of months ago when I told you about Maliwan upping their persistence?"

Fiona nodded as she nibbled at one end of the breadstick. "Yeah, that guy was all over your back at that corporate... thing. What was his name again?"

"Katagawa," Rhys scowled deeply as he forced the name out. "Spent the whole time telling me how big his army is and how easy it would be to flatten the whole of Promethea, if he wanted."

"Subtle."

"Uh-huh. Made it pretty clear he plans to merge with Atlas, whatever it takes, apparently. _I_ just thought he was compensating for something..."

"You're hardly in a position to judge others for that."

"Ex _cuse me_ -"

"Do you _need_ a building over fifty floors tall, towering over the whole place?"

"The building was _already_ here, I just... enhanced it. _Any_ way, Zer0 kept tabs on Maliwan to see if they were preparing to strike."

"And so you need me, your fabulous, talented Vault Hunter friend, to swoop in and out-threaten your Maliwan friend so he doesn't flatten your entire company before forcefully taking over it?"

Rhys blinked at her a couple of times, mouth comically half-open. "Alright, as much as I'd love to see _that_ , uhh, I mean-" he faltered at the sight of her warning glare, "you'd obviously kick ass, but that's the thing. I haven't heard a single word since. No sign of any Maliwan advances to Promethea. Not a single message from Katagawa. It's been weeks. And, after literally _months_ of non-stop Katagawa in my call history, it's kind of weird."

"Huh." Fiona sat back in her cheap plastic seat as she finished the breadstick. It had been a little stale, but it had been hours since she'd eaten anything, so it was welcomed. She frowned slightly, considering Rhys' words. "Maybe he just gave up? Realised you weren't going to give in?"

A brief silence. Rhys blinked a couple more times.

"Yeah, no, I know. I have less experience with corporations than you do, but even I know something's up there."

"Ugh, Fiona, trust me when I say this guy is persistent. And... a little creepy, actually." Rhys winced as he thought back to his first meetings with Katagawa. "The first time I met him? Just... a guy in charge of mergers at a bigwig company. Chatty, seemed harmless enough, if not a little more interested in what I was doing with Atlas than I'd expected. The next time I met him?" Rhys leaned in again and Fiona also leaned forward, captured by the intrigue. "Guy had a load of new cybernetics. And an ECHO-Eye. A _gold_ ECHO-Eye." He sat back again and waved his hands at his own face as he shrugged dramatically.

"Huh," Fiona said again, "well, I have a lot of questions."

"Uh-huh. Like, what is he hoping to gain from doing that? Am I supposed to be flattered? Flattered enough to sell him my whole damn company?"

"Actually I was more wondering why anyone would look at _this_ ," Fiona gestured at Rhys, smirking, "and think 'yeah, I wanna look like that, too'."

"What can I say? I can't help it if I'm a fine specimen of a man, even if so-called 'friends' tragically can't see it." Rhys arched an eyebrow as he puffed his chest, causing Fiona to snort.

"Alright, then. So, what are you getting at with all this?"

"I need to know why Maliwan have suddenly backed off," Rhys leaned in again and lowered his voice, not that the café lady was paying them the slightest bit of attention as she clattered around in the small kitchen, "and I need to be subtle about it. If they find out I'm snooping around in their business, they might strike."

"Explains all the weird secrecy stuff you're doing, then."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I don't want to leave a trail, electronic or otherwise, that they could pick up on."

Rhys sat back and rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous gesture Fiona had become very familiar with as she'd got to know him.

"So," he continued, smiling somewhat sheepishly, "I'm officially asking you for help. I know you don't con people any more-"

"I prefer the term 'cunningly talking people out of their money in an extravagant manner'," Fiona interjected smoothly.

"Sure, yeah, whatever makes you happy. Look, I can't do this by myself and, and this is the _only_ time I'll say this, but, you're _good_ at sneaking, stealth, information-gathering. ... Picking locks-"

"I don't mess with corporations," Fiona leaned back, prompting a plastic squeak from her chair, and folded her arms as she eyed him firmly.

"You mess with _mine_ all the time!"

"You're my friend! It's different." Fiona shrugged lightly as Rhys glared at her, pouting. "Look, corporations hate Vault Hunters. It's all we can do to just keep them off our backs, the last thing I need is to provoke one and especially one as big as Maliwan."

"You were perfectly willing to mess with Hyperion back when you had a whole _fake Vault Key_ ," Rhys said, tone accusatory as he narrowed his eyes.

"I wasn't hunting for Vaults back then," Fiona countered fairly.

"Alright, well, since you bring that up..." Rhys leaned forward onto his forearms again and glanced around rather unnecessarily, as they were still the only customers in the place. "I could totally make it worth your while."

Fiona blinked at him. "... Alright, I know you consider yourself to be a 'fine specimen of a man', but that won't work on me."

"Uhh, what?" Rhys stared at her, his face a picture of confusion for a moment before the penny dropped. "Oh! _Oh_ , god, no-no-no, _god_ , that's not-not, _no,_ god, _Fiona_ , I didn't mean-"

"Relax, hotshot," she grinned at him as his face flushed to an alarming shade of red. Cute. He couldn't meet her eyes.

"Jeez, _ugh_ , no, I mean, about Vaults. A Vault! Those things you hunt for." Rhys coughed slightly to clear his throat as his face continued to burn. "I, or Atlas, one or both of us, might have some recent intel on the location of one. Right here, on Promethea. If you help me out, just this once, that intel could... leak, to a certain hat-wearing friend of mine."

Fiona shifted in her seat as she considered him and the chair squeaked in protest.

"Alright, you have my attention."

"So... you'll help?" Rhys said hesitantly, gazing hopefully at her, unsure if she'd actually committed.

"I'll help," Fiona nodded at him, half-smiling as Rhys beamed at her, "but, whatever comes out of that Vault? It's all mine. Call it compensation for screwing with one of the biggest companies in the galaxy."

"Deal." Rhys leaned forward and offered her his metal hand, which she took and shook once, firmly. "Though, I hope whatever sits in that Vault is huge and heavy. Watching you trying to drag something like that out of the entrance would be hilarious."

"This from the guy with tissue paper muscles." Fiona smirked as Rhys let out a tiny noise of indignation. "So, what's the plan? Do you even _have_ a plan beyond 'somehow infiltrate Maliwan'?"

"Ok, so, there's this big event they're hosting in a couple of weeks. Some kind of merger celebration - which probably means Maliwan swooped in and forcefully took it from the poor sap. Ugh. Anyway, it's some swanky, corporate thing. Big ballroom. Stupid small food on huge plates. I got an invite and can bring a plus-one."

Rhys sat up straighter and adjusted his jacket in a formal gesture. "Fiona... Last-Name, will you do me the honour of being my plus-one to Maliwan's ridiculously extravagant party so we can infiltrate them and steal some information that will hopefully save everything I've ever worked towards, ever - oh, and you'll get a Vault, I suppose?"

"I will _happily_ attend said ridiculously extravagant party so I can be rewarded with some intel on the next source of my immense wealth... and help my friend, I guess."

"You're so sweet!" Rhys mockingly placed a hand on his chest and sniffled. "Alright, then. Maliwan is hosting at their own HQ so at least we'll be close to where any info is stashed. We just need to know where to hit. I doubt Katagawa has any incriminating documents in his office, so, if we can figure out where incriminating documents might be kept..."

"We also need to make sure we have our stories straight," Fiona said matter-of-factly. Rhys' eyebrows raised slightly, questioningly. "We need to make sure we don't look suspicious. If we march in with the very obvious intention of breaking into Maliwan, security will be onto us before we can blink. If we're gonna pretend we want to be at the swanky party purely as _guests_ and have no ulterior motive, we need to make sure we can stand up to any scrutiny, answer any questions that come our way."

"Yeah, good-good plan," Rhys said in alarming tone that suggested he hadn't given any of that a second thought.

"I need to know who _I_ am, too. These corporate suits are gonna wonder who I am when I rock up to the place-"

"Actually, I, uhh," Rhys rubbed the back of his neck and flushed to an alarming shade of red suddenly. Fiona narrowed her eyes. "I-I might already have, uhh, covered that part. See, um, when I accepted the invite, I had a lot of questions about the plus-one and, heh, once I figured out I could use this as an opportunity, and that you'd be the best person to bring along, I, uhh, well, heh, uhh-"

"Rhys."

"... I said I was bringing... my girlfriend."

A thick silence.

Rhys blinked at Fiona, nervous grin frozen in place.

Fiona stared.

The silence was broken by the sound of cutlery clattering on plates as they were dumped unceremoniously onto their table. Apparently, their food was ready.

The café lady looked at Rhys. Then, slowly, swiped her gaze across to Fiona. Then back to Rhys.

"... Bon appetit."

She retreated back to the kitchen. Rhys blinked again and cleared his throat. Fiona hadn't moved, hadn't even blinked. Rhys hesitantly reached forward and waved his left hand in front of her face.

"... Your girlfriend."

"Um, yes."

"I have to pretend to be your _girlfriend_."

"Cor _rect_."

"You couldn't have said I'm your sister, or something."

Rhys blinked yet again, mouth open. "Sister... huh. Sister. Didn't even think about that-"

"Clearly."

"Oh come _on_ \- alright, in my defence, who bring their _sister_ to a corporate get-together?"

"Me and Sasha do things together all the time!"

"That's different! You guys don't go to swanky Maliwan parties where if you don't show up with a partner, potential business associates start to think you're _weird_ , like, that in itself is weird, but anyway, that's not the point." Rhys began to turn red again and couldn't quite meet her eyes all of a sudden. "If we need to be sneaking off to places, it'll be easier to sneak if, uhh, people think that we're sneaking off for _other_ reasons."

Another thick silence.

"Y'know, reasons like-"

"Eat your taco, Rhys."

"I- what?"

Fiona fixed him with the most withering stare she could summon. Rhys shrank slightly in his seat. "I, now more than _ever_ before in my life, need a drink. A _strong_ drink. The flavoured water in this place won't cut it." She sat up and picked up the first half of the sandwich she'd ordered. "As the _girlfriend_ of Promethea's hottest young CEO, I think I deserve something a little more... upmarket. Wouldn't you agree?" She plastered a brilliant, terrifyingly silky smile onto her face. " _Sweetheart_?"

"... I'm gonna regret this, aren't I?"

"I am going to make sure you do."

* * *

"So, what's your poison?"

"The most expensive thing on the menu."

"Yeah, should've seen that coming."

"Three of them."

" _Three_? The prospect of being my fake girlfriend isn't _that_ bad, is it?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"... I'll be back with a tray."

To be fair to Rhys, Fiona thought as she settled herself into a seat at one of the tall tables situated near a large window overlooking Meridian, the bar they were now in was _much_ more upmarket. Tastefully lit with shades of blue and purple, a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, floor-to-ceiling windows offering stunning views of the water nearby, which was reflecting the stars and asteroids in the dark sky. A single drink probably cost upwards of fifty dollars.

Good. Rhys owed her _big_.

"Here."

"Thanks, _darling_."

"Ugh, you are going to be _unbearable_."

"That's the plan."

"Look, I'm sorry," Rhys offered as he sat himself opposite her and Fiona plucked one of the drinks from the silver tray he'd brought with him, "I panicked, ok?"

"Relax, Rhys," Fiona settled back and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly as she looked at him. "Now I've had time to absorb the news, I'll admit it's not the _worst_ plan you could have come up with."

"Uhh, really? You mean that?"

"Not when it comes with so many perks, like free food and drinks, the most luxurious suite Atlas has to offer..." She grinned and sipped her drink as Rhys sent her his most withering look, pouting. "And... yeah, your idea has some merit. However, I have some ground rules."

"That's fair."

"We are one of those couples who are _not_ touchy-feely. In public, or otherwise."

"... Noted."

"Pet names are off the table."

"Aww, but, Sweetpea-"

"And if we ever, inexplicably, find ourselves in a situation where there's only one bed for the both of us, you're taking the floor."

"I'd feel safer there, anyway. Just, spare a pillow, yeah?"

"That's... an acceptable term."

"Great!" Rhys raised his glass and nodded to Fiona respectfully. "Then, it's settled. Here's to our... I can't even pretend to call this a 'relationship'. Alright, here's to our... 'mutually beneficial partnership'."

"May it last for the shortest duration possible until we get the answers we need." Fiona smiled and clinked her glass against his. "Ok, we can start to plan properly, somewhere quiet, tomorrow. Right now, I just want to drink."

"Finally, something we can agree on."


End file.
